Media coverage of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue has included feature articles and highlights in the many local, national and international news outlets. Below is some select coverage that highlights the synagogue.
Press inquiries may be directed to Communications Director Ryan Greiss at rgreiss@swfs.org or (212) 877-4050, ext. 267.
The Jerusalem Post: Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch Rebukes Netanyahu for Damaging Diaspora-Israel Ties
Mar 21, 2019
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch told The Jerusalem Post that the failure to address the conflict with the Palestinians and Haredi dominance over religious life in Israel has done “unprecedented” harm to the relationship between U.S. and Israeli Jews. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is coming to the U.S. for AIPAC’s annual policy conference two weeks before Israel’s elections, has presided over “the deterioration of this relationship,” Hirsch says. “It is important for the Israeli electorate to know about these issues and hear what is at stake when they go to the polling booths.”
Broadway World: Stephen Wise To Host Mieczyslaw Weinberg Centennial Concert
Mar 15, 2019
Stephen Wise Free Synagogue will host a concert May 19 celebrating the centennial of prolific Polish-Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. The program will feature Weinberg’s “24 Preludes for Solo Cello” performed by Yosif Feigelson, Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” with pianist Ilya Yakushev, and several of Weinberg’s Yiddish songs performed by Stephen Wise Cantor Daniel Singer.
Makor Rishon (Hebrew): Bypass: A new initiative to bridge the gap with American Jewry
Jan 20, 2019
The White House and the Israeli government are turning to Reform rabbis — and not the movement’s leadership — to create a direct dialogue with American Jews. A few months ago, Jason Greenblatt, President Trump’s emissary to the Middle East, visited Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and met with Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch. Greenblatt presented the general direction of the Trump administration’s peace plan, and asked those present for their opinion. He also said that he and other senior White House officials listen to Hirsch’s sermons online in order to get a reading on the pulse of the liberal Jewish public.
NY1: Why Two Women’s March Events This Weekend Have Caused a Rift
Jan 18, 2019
With concerns still growing over this year’s Women’s March, leaders within Women’s March Alliance are working to distance themselves from the national organization whose leaders have been accused of anti-Semitism. A local offshoot of the national organization is holding a competing event. “It’s really a shame because it stands in the way of so much unity between us,” said Rabbi Samantha Natov of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, which held a meeting ahead of the march and where members of the Women’s March Alliance tried to ease fears about the march.
Newsday: Women’s March sees drop in support over bigotry accusations
Jan 18, 2019
The 2019 Women’s March is expected to be smaller than the previous women’s marches to protest Donald Trump’s presidency. The event has been marred by accusations of anti-Semitism and homophobia against some organizers. Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan, disavowed the march even though he said he agrees with the political aims.“The current leaders have steered the movement away from its true course,” Hirsch said in a sermon earlier this month. He said his synagogue would join the Women’s March Alliance event. “They have allowed anti-Semitism and anti-LGBTQIA sentiment and hateful racist rhetoric to become part of the platform.”
Associated Press: Schism leads to dueling women’s march events in NYC
Jan 18, 2019
Conflicts over control, inclusivity, and alleged anti-Semitism meant that women protesting on the second anniversary of the Women’s March on Washington were faced with competing demonstrations in New York City. Some Jewish groups pulled support for Women’s March Inc. and a Washington state chapter disbanded in protest. The leaders of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue urged its members to take part in the uptown march, affiliated with Women’s March Alliance. Rabbi Samantha Natov said she still has problems with the Women’s March Inc.’s reaction to allegations of anti-Semitism: “The leadership has not assuaged our most serious concerns,” she said. This story was picked up by The New York Times and The Washington Post, among other outlets.
West Side Rag: Saturday: One of Two NYC Women’s Marches Starts on UWS
Jan 17, 2019
The third annual Women’s March in New York City — one of two being held — will begin on the Upper West Side on Saturday. The march this year has been roiled by controversy, stemming from accusations of anti-Semitism against leaders of the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue said “we are disassociating from Women’s March Inc.” because “its current leadership has distorted the values and thwarted the goals articulated on that amazing January day in 2017.”
The Jerusalem Post: Anti-Semitism Claims Against Women’s March Leaders Shatter Unity
Jan 17, 2019
Amid an antisemitism scandal, progressive Jewish women struggle to find a home in this weekend’s events. The most prominent march this weekend in Washington, D.C., is run by Women’s March Inc. – the scandal-plagued organization led by Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, Bob Bland and Carmen Perez. In recent weeks, a number of groups have removed their endorsement from the organization, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Democratic National Committee and the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City.
Forbes: Clouded By Accusations Of Anti-Semitism, The Women’s March Loses Ground
Jan 17, 2019
As women across the U.S. are preparing to head to Washington, D.C., for the third annual Women’s March, ugly accusations of anti-Semitism have only been exacerbated by the refusal of Women’s March co-president Tamika Mallory to distance herself from the anti-Semitic statements of the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan. Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York chose to unequivocally disassociate from the Women’s March, although he added: “We are not disassociating from the original goals of Women’s March.”
The Forward: Rabbis Torn About Women’s March, Despite Secret Meeting With Sarsour, Mallory
Jan 16, 2019
New York rabbis are grappling with the same choice as many other Jews across the country: to attend a march that espouses principles most of the liberal community agrees with, or to stay home in protest of the anti-Semitism allegations and lose the opportunity to build alliances with other minority groups in attendance. The prominent Reform Stephen Wise Free Synagogue announced that it was formally disassociating with the national Women’s March organization over the anti-Semitism issue and affiliating with the Women’s March Alliance instead. “They better represented the values that we thought we were supporting when we supported the Women’s March” in 2017, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch explained.
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